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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27980556">golden strands</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitesimalll/pseuds/infinitesimalll'>infinitesimalll</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Haircuts, Light Angst, M/M, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan Manga Spoilers, Spoilers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:53:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,576</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27980556</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitesimalll/pseuds/infinitesimalll</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Who was the one to cut Armin Arlert's hair? None other than the only and only Jean Kirstein.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Armin Arlert/Jean Kirstein, jearmin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>180</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>golden strands</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>“Jean,” the soft familiar voice of Armin Arlert called out from behind to the brunette, “could you help me with something?” With a quick pivot, Jean Kirstein turned to face the much shorter blonde only to be surprised by the display. There wasn’t anything off, but the way Armin showcased a pair of worn scissors was a little menacing.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Jean,” the soft familiar voice of Armin Arlert called out from behind to the brunette, “could you help me with something?” With a quick pivot, Jean Kirstein turned to face the much shorter blonde only to be surprised by the display. There wasn’t anything off, but the way Armin showcased a pair of worn scissors was a little menacing. </p><p>“Eh?” Jean blinked, tipping his head ever so slightly as he took in the sight.</p><p>Armin took Jean’s confusion as a sign to continue, “I’ve been meaning to cut my hair,” he paused to comb through his blonde hair with his freehand, “It’s been getting in the way lately and…” Armin trailed off, scrunching his face up as if he was struggling to find his words. “I guess I just need a change,” he finished strongly with a light shrug.</p><p>“Why me?” Jean inquired, almost cocking his head even more as he placed his hands on his hips. </p><p>“Well,” Armin sheepishly began, cracking a small smile as he scratched the back of his neck, “Mikasa and Eren are both out, and I heard that you used to cut your own hair back when we were cadets.” There was a brief pause before he continued with a light chuckle, “I don’t trust Sasha or Connie to do my hair; if anything, Connie would probably shave it all off.”</p><p>Jean raised a brow and wrinkled his nose in amusement as he took the scissors from Armin, “Fair point, but, be warned, I haven’t exactly cut hair in a good while now.” Armin smiled, taking a quick glance to Jean’s own growing hair, “I can tell.” </p><p>Stifling a snort, Jean rolled his eyes and guided Armin to one of the barrack’s washrooms. On the way, he snagged a nearby stool.</p><p>Once they reached the washroom, Jean gingerly opened the door and stepped aside to allow Armin to pass. Armin held back a small chuckle at the ‘chivalry’. Jean followed the shorter man with the stool hoisted over his shoulders, “Do you want to sit in front of the mirror?” He asked, casting a glance towards his friend. “That’d be nice,” Armin nodded, stepping away from the mirror and sink to allow Jean to sit the stool down.</p><p>Hastily, Jean patted the stool and insisted, “Come on then, we haven’t got all day.” Jean straightened his posture as Armin made his way over. For a second, Armin hesitated. He stood there, glancing between the scissors and stool before he finally sat down. This didn’t go unnoticed by Jean.</p><p>“Oi,” Jean spoke, resting a hand on Armin’s shoulder, “you sure you wanna cut your hair? You seem a little unsure.” Armin merely swiped Jean’s hand away and playfully retorted, “I’m not paying you to question my decisions.” Jean caught the glimpse of a mischievous twinkle in Armin’s eyes.</p><p>He sharply scoffed, rolling his shoulders, “You aren’t paying me at all.” Regardless, Jean gently brought his hands up to Armin’s hair and combed through it with his fingers. Immediately, he found himself surprised by how silky and smooth the golden strands were. Armin’s hair always had a soft look to it, but Jean never assumed it’d be this soft. “I’m also not paying you to play with my hair,” Armin commented, watching Jean through the mirror’s reflection. A thin, rosy blush ran across Jean’s face as he struggled to conjure up a response. With a light huff, he glanced away to parrot lowly, “You’re not even paying me.”</p><p>A defeated sigh left Jean’s mouth as he turned back to the boy on the stool. Armin was still watching him through the mildly dirty mirror. “Good sir,” Armin cooed, glancing over his shoulder, “what has you so hesitant? Are you sure you want to do this?”</p><p>Jean tensed, feeling his skin prick with an odd heat at the tease. Two can play that game. He inwardly mumbled before running his fingers through Armin’s locks once more, “My apologies, good man. What are you in for today?” Jean gave a light grin as he began to fumble with Armin’s hair, bringing it back into a ponytail, “Perhaps this? Or maybe even this,” he continued, parting Armin’s hair to create poorly made pigtails.</p><p>The amusement in Armin’s eyes was priceless and it furthered that fuzzy feeling. “No, no, all that is fine, but I’d like a simple cut,” Armin’s own hands moved to his head, “maybe to here?” His hands stopped above his ears. For a minute, Jean dropped the act, “Are you sure, Armin? That’s a lot shorter than now, you know.”</p><p>The blonde chuckled, letting his arms fall to his side, “I know.” For a minute, a heavy silence fell between the two until Armin decided to break it, “I…” Was his voice trembling? Jean glanced to the mirror, examining Armin’s hunkered posture. His lips were curved downward in a wavering frown while his fists were balled up on his thighs.</p><p>“Armin…?” Jean trailed, reaching out only to stop at Armin’s response.</p><p>“I want it to be like… Erwin’s,” his voice was hushed and shaky.</p><p>A sharp pang of sadness ricoheted throughout Jean’s chest at Armin’s confession followed by a blaze of anger. He automatically knew what this was about. Quickly, he rest his hand on Armin’s shoulder, gripping it as he insisted, “You don’t have to be a copy of Erwin. Is that damned Floch still bothering you about this?” He removed his hand, balling it into a fist, “I’ll beat him into a pulp.”</p><p>Armin turned, grabbing Jean’s shaking fist with his soft pale hands, “No…” the boy began, lifting his head to stare into Jean’s eyes. “This is my own decision,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. “Argh,” Armin sniffled, letting go of Jean’s fist to continue to rub at his eyes, “I’m sorry about that, Jean.” The area around Armin’s eyes were now red from the constant rubbing.</p><p>“Don’t apologize for that,” Jean murmured, his hands returning to comb through Armin’s hair, “it must be hard,” slowly, he traced the edges of where he would start cutting. Armin didn’t respond, his eyes were now closed and he sat still. Jean didn’t continue the conversation; instead, he began to gently snip through the thin golden strands.</p><p>Slowly, the atmosphere became steady and quiet aside from the few occasional snips and snaps of the scissors working their way through hair. Jean had become too focused in trimming Armin’s hair that he failed to acknowledge watchful eyes boring into him. With a furrowed brow, Jean attempted to picture their long lost commander and the way his hair was styled. However, he eventually gave up in trying to imagine every specific detail; besides, it was best if he gave something that represented Armin rather than the person everyone expected him to be. No one really expected him to be a carbon copy of Commander Smith; other than that Armin himself and that damned Floch. Jean’s cuts became a bit more hazardous as he thought bitterly of the aforementioned soldier. In Jean’s opinion, Floch was worse than Eren because at least Eren was tolerable. He couldn’t understand why Floch was so spiteful by the decision to pick Armin over Erwin. It was idiotic given Floch pretty much only knew Erwin for a few days! Even Levi and Hange who had known Erwin for the years did not spite or blame Armin.</p><p>“Jean?” Armin broke his train of infuriated thoughts, “Are you alright? You look…,” he trailed off before finishing with a worried laugh, “pissed off,” With a light shake of his head, Jean dismissed the boy’s worries, “I’m fine, just thinking about how much I want to punch the hell out of Floch.”</p><p>Armin gave another light laugh, “I’d love to see that.”</p><p>“Haven’t I done enough of your bidding?” Jean huffed, dramatically rolling his shoulders before he instructed, “Alright, stay still. I just need to fix the edges and you’ll be free.” Just as Jean said, he finished his work by snipping off a few long, stray hairs and cleaned up the edges. Once he was done with finalizing his touch-ups, Jean swiped away the cut strands resting haphazardly on Armin’s shoulders.</p><p>A smirk crossed Jean’s face as he stepped back and put his hands on his hips to revel in his work. Meanwhile, Armin lingered in front of the mirror, running his fingers through his hair. By the look on his round face, Jean assumed [and hoped] that he was pleased. A good portion of hair had been cut off, leaving somewhat of a bob that overshadowed an undershave. Jean tried to mimic Erwin’s hairstyle to the best of his ability all while keeping the signature look of Armin. In his opinion, he believed he did great.</p><p>“Yeesh, all of this good work for nothin’! Not even a tip!?” Jean playfully complained, walking over to rest an arm on Armin’s shoulder. As if on cue, Armin turned and leaned upward to plant a small, warm kiss on Jean’s cheek. His face flushed a vibrant red and his hand shot up to touch the spot where he had been kissed.</p><p>“Was that a good enough tip?” Armin asked, attempting to play off his own blushing with a witty comeback. Jean watched as the blonde sweetly smiled, waved him goodbye, and thank him all leaving Jean alone, dumbfounded, in the bathroom.</p><p>Jean hated to admit it, but damn, that was a good enough tip. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>while writing this, i noticed how much armin's new hairstyle seems to mimic erwin's and like?? i now headcanon that armin had his hair cut that way on purpose in order to live up to the expectations of others.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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